TA News

On May 4, TA hosted its annual Honors Celebration, welcoming honor students and their families into the Vaughan Alumni Gymnasium for a special recognition of students’ academic achievement. The theme this year was “Hope,” a nod to Emily Dickinson’s poem, “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers.” In her opening comments, Head of School Carrie Brennan spoke to the importance of hope during challenging times, “Hope has been an important inspiration during these pandemic years. We have had to draw on it to sustain us through ‘the storm,’ as Dickinson calls hard times. We’ve had to keep hope perched in our soul to help us persevere – and listen for the sweet birdsong through ‘the gale.’”

Honor students were asked to share their thoughts on the concept of hope with English teacher Emily Silver before the event. Their words were compiled into a booklet and in the spirit of the old “speak chorus”, Ms. Brennan read some of these writings aloud. “I want to share some of our students’ words. I assure you: they instruct, they inspire, and they uplift. A few of the many things our students hope for are: unlimited happiness; a snow day; peace and love in the world; buried treasure; social change; blue skies, and clean water. Humans living respectfully with the land. An endless supply of mint chocolate ice cream. For the world to recover from the damage the pandemic has caused.”

The keynote speaker, TA science teacher Derek Burkins, shared that for him, hope is something that goes “hand in hand with the preparation that goes into a day, or a test, or any event that tilts the outcome into the realm of the successful.” It’s this kind of hope, he said, “that I encourage you to strive toward. The one that benefits from preparation and perseverance. This is what gives rise to our everyday individual hope and helps bring that sense of hopefulness to others, a strong community of learners, thinkers, and creators.”

The night was a wonderful return to tradition, with families together on campus sharing a meal, pride in our students’ achievements, and hope for their futures.

A big thank you to Dan Grossman for volunteering his time and skills to document the event. View Honors Celebration photos here.

Congratulations to the following students for earning this recognition:

Class of 2022

Cayden Benjamin
*Kiran Black
Mackin Briglin
*Tobin Durham
*Taylor Farrell
*Hunter Harris
Madison Hatch
Elliott Jones
Seunggyu (Alex) Kim
*Gretta Koppers
Kaitlyn MacPhee
*Ethan Marshia
Rose Novotny
*Madison Powers
*Maddy Rooney
*Jessica Smith
*Macey Smith
Brennan Vaughan
Katherine Waterman
*Lily Welch
*Tate Whiteberg

*Seniors who qualified for the Honors Celebration each year they were eligible.

Class of 2023

Thomas Berecz
Porter Burkins
Quinn Corcoran
Avery Crandall
Eldon Crossett
Shisi (Cissy) Dai
Abigail Dixon
Madelyn Durkee
Michael Fernandez
Jacob Gilman
Olivia Hastings
Addyson Holzer
Isaiah Kol
Maxwell Leibon
Finn Linehan
Madison Mousley
Nolan Pepe
Charlotte Reimanis
Jada Rich
Luca Trage
Robina Wilmott
Gonzalo de Carvajal Cebrian

Class of 2024

Mary Bosco
Charlize Brown
Addison Cadwell
Acadia Cook
Chenoweth Donohue
Leo Downey
Eli Dybvig
Nathan Harris
Ailia Hedgepeth
Jasper Jones
Asa Kelleher
Elizabeth Knaus
Whitney Lewis
Finn Liland
Cecilia Luce
Daniel Markwood
Benjamin Mattern
Ella Maxwell
Layne Mullen
Shannon O’Donnell
Aden Perry
Samuel Richardson
Justin Robinson
Margaret Smallwood
Madeleine Thaxton
Mary Veracka

Class of 2025

Wyatt Cadwell
Starrina Coulter
Anna Dixon
Maya Dixon
Spencer Durkee
Grace Elmer
Boone Fahey
Connor Gaine
Ella Harvey
Ava Hayden
Heidi Hewes
Ulysses Junker-Boyce
Nora Keane
Joshua King
Piper Leibon
Natalie Lewis
Gabriel Limlaw
Dempsey McGovern
Zachary Nalette
Ashlyn Osgood
Evan Patterson
Hardy Payson
Alicja Perdrizet
Bianca Pulaski
Evan Rich
Willow Slayton
Brady Sloop
Dillon Vance
Matthew Vivian
Elizabeth Waterman
Caroline Watts
Andre Whiteberg
Ruth Wilmott
Isaac Yukica
Oliver Yukica

Class of 2026
Madison Balch
Henley Cook
Kelci Daniels
Leilah Santiago
Sam Kraemer
Connor Kutter-Walker
Daniel Mann
Xander Oshoniyi
Emmett Terry
David Thaxton
Henry Trage

Class of 2027

Julia Bonnett
Elizabeth Brown
Wyatt Chambers
Kait Christensen
Leah Crossett
Juniper Dixon
Oliver Emery
Jillian Fein
Paul Kidd
MaryAnn Maxfield
Matthew McGovern
Rowan Moody-A’ness
Aislin Peters
Jacob Phelps
Tyler Skipper
Connor Sloop
Nicholas Smallwood
Natalie Snider
Logan Wells
Tristan Woodward

Students are invited to this special event if they have achieved High Honors (a 3.6 grade point average or higher) at least once in the preceding four quarters and achieve Honors (3.2-3.59 grade point average) in all remaining quarters.  To qualify for honor recognition, students may receive no grade below B-.